The universe according to Planck

Sharper image of early cosmic radiation released

TURIN, Italy — A sharper view of the early universe than any other image has
captured so far was released July 5 by the European Space Agency. Its Planck
satellite, launched in May 2009, has been sweeping the sky to record microwave
radiation, the remnant glow from the Big Bang, which created the universe about
13.7 billion years ago.

Planck’s new image, recorded at nine frequencies, depicts
subtle variations in the universe’s temperature at different points in the sky,
reflecting the distribution of matter when the universe was 380,000 years
old. At that time the initial cosmic fireball receded, allowing radiation to
flow freely through space. Patterns within the cosmic microwaves provide clues
to the history of the universe, including the formation of galaxies and their
growth into huge structures. Planck data will also help pin down even more
precisely various properties of the cosmos, such as how old it is and what mix
of various forms of matter and energy it is made of.

In the Planck map, the white and blue areas represent
foreground interference from the Milky Way and other galaxies; that data must
be subtracted before the primordial microwaves (represented by the yellow and
reddish portions of the image) can be fully analyzed. Do not attempt to analyze
the visible portion of the primordial microwaves on your own, though. This
image has been intentionally degraded to prevent scientists not on the Planck
team from drawing any premature conclusions, Nazzareno Mandolesi, the principal
investigator for one of Planck’s instruments, said during a news conference in
Turin at the ESOF 2010 conference, organized by the Euroscience Open Forum.

Positioned at a gravitationally stable point 1.5 million
kilometers from Earth, the Planck satellite should ultimately improve
measurements of basic cosmological data by a factor of five compared with
NASA’s WMAP satellite, which was launched in 2003 and has provided the most
precise microwave background information available so far.

Planck’s new map was based on six months of sky sweeps. ESA
plans to release findings on some matters of astrophysical interest by early
next year, Mandolesi said, but results on major cosmic questions are not
planned for public release until 2012.